Hey, let's rent out a theater!

A while back, Todd Franklin shared a blog posting and some pictures from a fun event. He was able to rent out a small theater and show “Star Wars” to his friends! You can read about it at the link below. (Yes, this is the same guy who found the original “Death Star” prop. Some guys have all the luck!)
http://neatocoolville.blogspot.com/2007/09/revisiting-star-wars-movie-theater.html

Todd’s post reminded me of a time when another group rented out a theater for a “Muppet Movie” sing-along. Danny at Tough Pigs wrote about the experience, and his story is required reading for all Muppet Movie fans. You can read about it here:

http://www.toughpigs.com/journalsingalong.htm

All this got me to thinking. If I could rent out a theater for one night, and invite all my family & friends, which movie would I choose? I realized quickly that I probably wouldn’t choose a movie- I’d probably try to make one. Hey, what better time to take pictures of the people you care about? I’d definitely try to bring along a camera.

What else could we do? Maybe we could all play “Simon Says.” Or if I can find a big enough mat, perhaps we could play “Twister.”

Now here’s another fun thing to think about. If you were to give a speech to a theater full of your family and friends, what would you talk about? I’d certainly try to fit in there somewhere how thankful I am for all of them. And I’d probably do a few corny jokes and maybe share a few minutes from some of my cheesy home movies. If I’m feeling really brave, I might sing for them. (Not too much, though. I don’t want to overwhelm them with my vocal abilities.) Hmmm. . .Maybe I could finally play the Phantom! Now that would be a dream come true. . . Well, for me, anyway. :) I suppose I could pass out earplugs just in case.

It’s fun to imagine things like this - especially when you think about everybody in the audience. They’re the ones that help make the “show” worth watching.

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THE (NEARLY) COMPLEAT FRED: If you’re a fan of comic books (particularly from the silver age to about the late 1980s or so), then you may know about Fred Hembeck. Fred was providing comic book commentary long before the Internet was invented (well, actually, it had been invented, but it just hadn’t been discovered by advertisers yet.) Fred’s comics are insightful and funny, and he’s shamelessly plugging a retrospective collection of his work due to come out next year. You can read all about it at the link (and be sure to visit Fred’s site to keep up to date on what’s going on in his world - it‘s in my links sections):

http://www.hembeck.com/More/HembeckOmnibusInfoPage.htm

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FACE ON THE COVER: Speaking of Fred, on a recent post to his blog, he casually mentioned the grand comic book database. This web site offers something that the great Overstreet comic book price guide doesn’t - cover images of over 300,000 comic books. This is significant for those collectors who have been saying for years, “Gee, I wish I could get a copy of that issue of ‘Wonder Woman,’ but all I can remember about it is what the cover looked like. . .”

Okay, so maybe there aren’t many people out there like that. But hey, if you happen to be one of them - or if you just enjoy classic comic book cover art, then this is the site for you. Check it out.

http://www.comics.org/index.lasso

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THEY’RE HERE AGAIN: The series “Happy Days” is airing again on station WGN. Why should you care? Well, now’s your chance to enjoy the series with the original music still in there! The recent DVD sets have changed many of the music tracks due to copyright issues. You can read about that problem in the post below:

http://heroshaven.blogspot.com/2007/05/damsels-optional-or-not.html

Happy Days airs VERY early in the mornings on WGN. You’ll probably have to record them so you can watch them later. But aaaaay, I mean, hey, it’s worth it. It’s a fun show.

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OLD SCHOOL SESAME VOLUME TWO: Ah yes, it’s on the horizon, and it looks like it may include the first early “test” episode that I mentioned in an earlier post. You’ll get to see the prototype Ernie and the “Man from Alphabet” in all his glory. Most important, you’ll get about five classic episodes that no 1970’s Sesame Street fan should be without, and it sounds like a lot of great extra clips. Oh, yeah! The DVD set is scheduled for release later this year. Read all about it below:

http://muppetnewsflash.blogspot.com/2007/09/new-old-school-information.html

Since we’re talking about Sesame Street clips, I thought it might be cute to list some of my favorite “lost” Sesame Street clips that I’d like to see again. Some of you may have read this list of mine before, but here it is again. I’m thankful to say that this list is getting shorter all the time. So many classic clips have been brought back (by collectors, mostly) in the last several years that it’s much easier to find that rare clip you recall from way back. Just take a look at YouTube and you’ll see what I mean. But here are a few classic clips that haven’t been seen in years that we need to bring back:

1. Bert and Maria flying the imaginary helicopter. Bert is sitting outside the playground area of Sesame Street. He is wearing goggles. Maria sits next to him and asks what he’s doing. Bert says he’s pretending to be a helicopter pilot. Together, Bert and Maria imagine that they’re flying a helicopter. As they do, the background changes from the street to a grassy field, where the helicopter takes off from. Unfortunately, it’s not an easy flight, with Bert narrowly missing several trees and getting lost in a cloud among other things. When they finally “land,” Maria says, “Next time, I’ll fly the helicopter!”

2. The Fonz and Richie count to ten. Henry Winkler and Ron Howard made some cameos on Sesame Street in the late 1970s and early 1980s as the Fonz and Richie Cunningham from “Happy Days.” If you love Happy Days, you’ll love those clips, and this clip is probably the funniest. It features the Fonz teaching Richie the “cool” way to count. Watching these two work together gives you a great idea of their talent and chemistry together.

3. Krazy Kat “love” cartoon. The characters from the classic comic strip made an appearance in a Sesame Street cartoon. Since learning more about comic strips, I’ve come to appreciate the artistry of “Krazy Kat” and this cartoon captured much of that. I’d "love" to see it again.

4. Grover sings “Still we like each other.” This song appears on the Sesame Street “Concert-on stage live!” album. But this is not that version. This version features Grover singing to a girl anything muppet in a park setting. It is slow and beautiful. A very nice clip.

Like the Energizer Bunny, we could keep going and going, with clips of Grover flying in his airplane, of Ernie and Bert imagining what life would be like without each other, and with great music clips from Judy Collins, Paul Simon, Jose Feliciano, etc. Let’s hope a few of these classic moments make it to the new DVD set. And as usual, if anyone HAS any of these clips, please let me know!